The Secret of the Trees
by ScottishTimeLady
Summary: The Doctor, Amy and Rory land in Scotland 2004 for a quick trip, but things begin escalate as they hear stories of people going missing, people being found murdered and terrified children. A secret needs to be uncovered, a secret the trees are hiding...
1. Midnight

_This is my first attempt at a longer story, rather than one shots, so I'm sorry if the chapters end up too short, I'm not very good at knowing when to stop writing one chapter and begin writing another._

_The story is set after the Big Bang, so Rory and Amy are married and still travelling with the Doctor. I rated this story T just to be safe, I'll change it depending on whether or not I decide to include certain themes._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

___

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_

**Chapter 1: Midnight**

The night was still. There was no wind making the leaves rustle, no cats skulking outside, no owls calling out. It was as if the whole world had gone to sleep. There were only the still trees, and the seemingly empty houses, and the moonlight shining down, like a giant spotlight seeking out disturbers of this eerie peace.

The street was normally quiet enough; it was right next to a park, away from the noise of the bustling centre of the city. The park was usually bustling with families during the day. The trees decorated the green lawns and offered shade to picnickers on hot days and there were quaint little flowers growing in rings around the trees, like an accessory, causing little children to smile and point in delight, claiming the flowers were planted by fairies to protect the trees. No one would climb the trees for fear of trampling the perfect ring of flowers.

But at night, all the families had gone; the sunshine and warmth had melted away. The trees became obstacles for passers by and to the people that only dared to watch, the trees appeared to be concealing something, and they acted like they were hiding a secret. The flowers now stood as soldiers ready for battle, ready to protect the secret of the trees.

One house overlooked a ring of trees by the edge of the park. It was a normal house, with a wooden door and five windows facing the park. The girl was on the top floor in her bedroom. She'd fallen asleep in her armchair; a light torch had fallen on the floor and a book was held limply with her arm resting on her lap. Her dark brown hair was ruffled up and strewn across the back of the chair. Her face was calm and she was breathing deeply, completely relaxed.

Her room was small but it suited her. It was painted a light sky-blue colour. Her bed sat in the corner and there was a large window half covered by a bamboo blind, leaving only a crack at the bottom letting the moonlight in, on the wall opposite. There were plenty of shelves filled with books and treasures. Her desk was cluttered with bits of paper, drawings, pens, pencils, books and various other bits and bobs that she had gathered throughout her short life.

The only odd thing about her room was the fact that it seemed every clock in the house been dumped here. They had all been gathered and placed side by side; all of them had varying times, only a minute or so out of sync, the way clocks normally are in a house. It was strange to see such an assortment of different clocks together, there were digital alarms, classic looking ones, large wall clocks propped up by a stack of books and watches lying in a neat line across the floor.

One of the alarms went off, saying it was 11.58pm. The girl sat straight up; the once relaxed face was now filled with determination and a hint of fear. She slid off her chair and grabbed her torch, crawling across the floor to the window. She checked the various times on the clocks, turned, and reached up to peer over the edge of the sill at the circle of trees, her eyes searching. She waited.

Then every single clock ticked and changed simultaneously to midnight.

That was when they appeared.

Her eyes grew wide as she watched them stand in a circle. Her breathing grew faster and louder and she cursed herself for daring to breathe.

One turned its head towards the house, and its eyes bore into hers. She ducked and closed her eyes, not believing that one could have seen her, be was being so careful! Slowly, she lifted her head to look out again.

They were no longer standing in a circle. Now they were standing in a straight line, staring up at her, their heads cocked to one side, the moonlight illumining their terrible, angry and curious faces.

She backed away from the window, terrified. She humped into her bed and pulled the blanket over her head, praying for them to leave her be, she hadn't meant any harm, all she wanted to do was to see them properly… to know what they looked like.

She kept on waiting, not knowing what would happen next.

Slowly, her breathing began to calm down, the longer she waited.

"They just wanted to scare me," she thought, relaxing slightly.

Then her door creaked open.

She couldn't move.

It was them. She knew it. Her blanket was slowly pulled down and her head was turned to face them. And in the moonlight she could see their faces, now smiling cruel smiles at her.


	2. Rory's Choice

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

___

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_

**Chapter 2: Rory's Choice**

"So, where are we going?" Amy asked.

They were in the TARDIS console room. The Doctor was tinkering about as normal, fiddling with the many switches, knobs and buttons on the console and looking at the many screens with strange shapes on them, "telling him God knows what!" Amy always thought.

"Anytime, anywhere, anywhen!" the Doctor smiled, throwing his arms out as he turned to flick another switch.

Rory sat quietly on a chair, drinking a cup of tea. He was not bothered about where they went, as long as Amy was happy, he didn't mind. Amy's eyes were clipped onto the Doctor, her arm folded, her fiery red hair giving her anger a nicely added effect.

"Seriously, where?"

"Yes… where should we go?" the Doctor stopped tinkering at the controls and turned to look at the quiet man sitting down. "Rory?"

"What?" he asked confused.

The Doctor turned back to the console and stared at one of the screens.

"Where do you want to go, Rory?"

"You're asking _me_?" Rory asked, completely bewildered.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I have no idea; because Amy always chooses; because right now I don't feel like Romans… _again_ and because I just feel like making you decide! We'll go anywhere you want to go… as long as it's not time locked!"

Rory shrugged.

"C'mon, Rory!" Amy sidled up to him. "It's not everyday you get the chance to go anywhere in time and space!"

"It is for us," he answered moodily, not really wanting to make a decision.

Amy turned on her sad face and looked at Rory, her emerald eyes begged him to choose, begged him to choose somewhere interesting and exciting for them. Rory thought for a moment, his mind searching though all the possibilities of where and when to go. Then he realised the answer was right in front of him. He grinned, sat his tea down and stood up.

"Where are we going?" Amy questioned him, excitedly.

"Rory shook his head at Amy and walked over to the Doctor. Amy watched Rory whisper in the Doctor's ear so that she couldn't hear. The Doctor grinned and asked him something quietly, to which Rory nodded and agreed. They both looked over at Amy and smiled.

Amy was becoming excited and rather curious.

The Doctor cleared his throat.

"Your wish is my command!"

And he started pressing all the magic buttons to take them away. When they'd landed, Amy was almost bursting with excitement, wondering what the fantastic place they were going to was. As they were leaving, the Doctor paused at the door, building up the suspense, grinning.

"Oh, please show me?" Amy begged, feeling like a child again about to get a birthday present.

The Doctor threw open the door and they stepped out into the sunlight.

"Edinburgh, Scotland! And it is… the 14th of July 2004!"


	3. On Arrival

_**Disclaimer:**__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

* * *

**Chapter 3: On Arrival…**

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" Amy squealed hugging Rory.

Amy was delighted to be in Scotland again; she'd loved living here as a kid and she'd only ever been back once since they'd moved to Leadworth.

"I knew you'd want to come here," Rory smiled.

Amy grinned widely but there was a small nagging at the back of her mind. "Why did they both make such a fuss about this?" she thought. "We could have caught a bus up here back home if we'd wanted to, why use the TARDIS for this? And 2004?" She tried to shake the thoughts away from her head, it was very sweet that Rory had thought to give his choice of a trip to her, and that was all that mattered. Amy just smiled and leaned her head on Rory's shoulder while holding his hand, turning them into a very cute, very-in-love couple as they listened to the Doctor blabber on about the entire history of Edinburgh.

"…and it has seven hills around it, a little like Rome! Its like you, Amy, a young Scottish girl has noticed the similarities of them both and that may be the reason why you are so interested in Rome, not just Rome, but the Romans who built Rome into the heart (and head) of an entire empire but failed to enter Scotland!"

"Yeah, Doctor, I don't think that as a kid I would have thought that deeply about it… and when I was a teenager, it was just the invasion of the hot Italians," Amy laughed, remembering her schooldays as a teenager.

The Doctor gave Amy a look that told her off jokingly for being inappropriate in a History lesson, which just made Amy laugh even harder.

"That exactly the look my teacher gave me when I handed in my essay!"

"Anyway…" Rory tried to steer the topic away from attractive men Amy dreamed about being with and onto… well… _anything_ else. "Where do you want to go first?"

They all looked around at where they were. The TARDIS had landed in a small alleyway between some domestic houses. There were a couple of windows facing into the alleyway, but the curtains were shut. They decided to venture out of the alleyway to find out whereabouts they were in the city, and when they did they found they were on a pavement along a street of houses, near a giant park.

"Hmmmmmmmm…" the Doctor was looking around curiously.

"What's the matter?" Amy asked.

"…something doesn't feel right…" the Doctor looked at Rory. "Are you sure that you haven't…?"

"No! God, no, I told you everything, I'm not trying to disturb any of that time stuff!" Rory shook his head. "I'm not stupid enough to keep that kind of thing secret from you Doctor, besides, the whole point-"

He stopped talking when he realised that Amy was still there, listening to them.

"We are here, in this city, on this date for… for… the reason that I've said, not to try and… do anything weird like…" Rory tried to explain again.

The Doctor nodded.

"It doesn't feel like that really, I just wanted to check."

Amy was confused.

"What on Earth are you two talking about?"

"Nothing!" both Rory and the Doctor exclaimed.

"Is there more to this trip than I know…?" Amy smiled sweetly at Rory, trying to weedle information out of him.

Rory shook his head.

"Since its your near past, I'm just wanting to check that we aren't going to bump into you two while we're here!" the Doctor saved Rory from questioning. "Hmmmmmmm…" he added.

Amy seemed to have been convinced by the Doctor's reasoning. Her sweet smile to Rory turned into her usual grin which appeared when there was danger around.

"Trouble?" she asked.

The Doctor looked around at the houses, and the people walking by. He breathed in the air slowly and exhaled it. He stamped on the ground once neatly, and sniffed the scents around them. He then slowly drew one finger, licked it, held it up in the air, and then tasted it again. He turned around to face the couple watching him.

"Nope! False alarm!" he grinned. "I get a bit paranoid in my old age; maybe I should just call it quits and take up knitting? No… I'm not going to take up knitting. D'you why? 'Cause I'm the Doctor, and I don't knit!"

Amy and Rory decided it was best to not question the Doctor while he was in one of these "I'm the Doctor!" moods. They both just smiled nervously. The last time he had been in an "I'm the Doctor!" mood it had been in a hat stall on the planet Tunenepra, when he discovered that they hadn't got any Fezzes. He had a mad a rather odd, though reasonably inspiring, speech about how he will make sure that every hat stall, on every planet, throughout the whole universe will be able to sell fezzes to anyone who asks. So far, he hadn't done anything about it, all he'd managed to do was make Amy and Rory distract him and drag him away, apologising profusely to the owner of the stall.

"So where are you wanting to go first, Doctor?" Rory was a bit nervous about what the Doctor would reply.

"I don't know it's up to you two…" the Doctor had gone back into his normal (though very alien) mood. "Though I wouldn't mind a visit to a zoo… I like zoos… apart from the animal part, I like the people, normally they love animals, it's good to see such compassion in humans, don't you think?"

And the Doctor set off at a fast pace towards the centre of town. Amy and Rory followed, Amy buzzing with excitement of being back home, and Rory ecstatic that Amy was pleased with his idea (not that she knew all of it yet…).

They'd been walking for about 15 minutes before Amy spoke up again.

"Doctor, do you know where we're going?"

"Nope!"


	4. Panic

_This chapter is sort of irrelevant, but I thought it gave us a break from The Doctor, Amy and Rory, and also giving a bit more background on the atmosphere around the city._

_Thanks to DancingSpy for giving me my first review, I'm not going be one of those people who refuse to update unless they get a certain amount of reviews, cause I'm doing this just generally for the love of writing, but its nice to know that someone is reading this._

_**Disclaimer:**__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

* * *

**Chapter 4: Panic**

Another girl had gone missing. She was the youngest so far. Her name was Seraphina Taylor and she was only sixteen years old.

No one was completely sure what was happening, all these girls disappearing, it wasn't natural. There were some men missing too, but most had been found a few days later, dead. They had all been killed and dumped somewhere: alleyways, ditches, park benches, often with their eyes gorged out and their mouths sewn up, as if the person who killed them wanted to punish them for seeing, and make sure they could never talk about what they saw. Not that it really mattered whether they did it or not. They were all dead. So far, none of the missing girls had been found.

The police had no clue what was going on, the attacks had been random, no pattern in age or race, or whether they lived in the city or were visiting. It was as if they'd merely stumbled across something they shouldn't have. One thing the police noticed was that no children had been harmed; all the girls that had been taken were really young women who'd go out partying at night though there had been a few older women snatched as well. The police decided to put this down to the fact that girls in their late teens and early twenties were out late at night, which was when all the attacks and disappearances had happened, and as children were usually in their beds with their mothers watching them, they had not been taken. The men's attacks were as random as the women who were stolen.

What seemed to be happening was someone would be walking home at night, from the pub or the nightclub or friend's house, and disappear into the dark. Sometimes there would be a panicked phone call to the police or family member, but they were rare and cut off so quickly.

It wasn't just people wandering along the streets at night alone, one night it was a group of six students, _six_, a mix of both men and women. They'd been walking back to their halls from a party and had disappeared completely. The three boys, Matthew Peters, Bill Waterstone and Allen MacDonald, were found a few days after. The girls were still missing.

The murders and disappearances were happening too frequently, people were started to get scared. Parents fussed over their children, making them promise that while out playing they wouldn't stray too far and lecturing them not to sneak out if they were at a friend's house. The teenagers were fussed over too, being made to stay at home and not wander out in the night. People were making their trips by day, getting home well before sundown, and not leaving the house before six o'clock at the earliest.

There were whispers and rumours acting like smoke, engulfing so many people so that they found it hard to breathe. Even the few people who were not worried and not really thought about it much had wisps whispering past them. People were blaming gangs, the government and each other. There needed to be more police officers, youths needed to at school being educated, not hanging around street corners, certain families held grudges against each other and people began to sink into deep hatred of everything and everyone around them.

But so very few really noticed what was important.

So very few realised who they needed to listen to in order to find out the truth.

And fewer would do it.

It was the children.

The children had not acted normal for months. On the surface of it all they looked as happy as they normally were, laughing and smiling happily on the playground. But they weren't. The laughter was false, or scared. The smiles were forced upon them by parents and teachers, telling them not to act miserable. Their games were quiet and hushed, not by a teacher, but by themselves. They didn't want to play properly. They knew something was not right. Some even knew what the problem really was, and the stories passed along the children, not as rumours or lies, but as the truth.

Few adults noticed these quiet exchanges among the children, and that they were all so quiet. A few teachers would watch the children on the playground and think to themselves that there might be something in this, but none would follow it up. Occasionally a mother would notice and question her child. But the conversations never got far.

All the children had heard the stories of creatures at night, many had seen them from their bedroom windows and were scared into silence, until one eventually spoke up to their playmates, then it all would come out. The children had all heard the stories of the monsters at night, but they knew they couldn't tell anyone, what adults would listen to them?

Everyone was worried.

Everyone was scared.

No one was happy.

No one knew what to do.


	5. Tea, Flirting, Shopping and a Warning

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Tea, Flirting, Shopping and a Warning**

"Wow!"

Amy and Rory looked at the Doctor. He just acted so… _alien_ at times! They both sipped on their teas and watched him, his face completely lit up as he looked at the map they'd been given at the entrance. He was reliving every moment of their visit to the zoo, and he was so happy.

"Remember the hippos?" the Doctor asked them excitedly. "I loved the hippos! They were the best!"

The pair just nodded slightly and 'hm'ed and 'ah'd at the Doctor's continual ramble.

"But those poor penguins! Why on Earth were they doing that?" the Doctor asked concerned.

"Doing what?" Rory asked.

"The 'march'!"

Neither of them decided to answer him.

He nagged on at them, "Why?"

"Just 'cause they _do_, Doctor, it's meant to be fun for the kids or something."

"_I _think it's cruel, and unfair. What if they don't want to do it?"

"Doctor, have you ever _been_ to a zoo before?" Amy asked him. "You're acting as though you've never been to this kind of thing before!"

"Of course, I've been to a zoo before! Just never one where the animals all sound Scottish!"

"What? You can hear the animals?" Rory was shocked.

"Of course I can! I have six billion languages… give or take a few… and that includes ones of the non-dominant species of a planet too!" the Doctor rolled his eyes. "Excuse me, I'll be right back."

And the Doctor stood up and walked away from their table.

Amy and Rory were glad to be left in peace for a few minutes. The Doctor had been a bit tiring today, running off and looking at all the different animals, claiming a new favourite every minute or so. He was acting like a kid, and it had put off Rory and Amy for a while yet. They were all sitting in a small café, having a break. It was quite nice; they had managed to get a table near a window and were sitting down, sipping their tea and watching all the people pass by.

The Doctor returned to their table and sat down.

"Where've you been?"

"I was borrowing a newspaper from that delightful woman over there," the Doctor pointed casually behind him to a young woman sitting with her friends, giggling and watching him. "I find it helps to remind me what has happened here recently, making sure we don't run into any major events."

Amy looked over the Doctor's shoulder at the woman. She was young, pretty and blonde; she was wearing some unusual clothes, a bright green skirt with an orange t-shirt and a brown cardigan, with some wild jewellery. She had a pile of books sitting on the table in front of her, as well as the newspaper and a cup of tea, an obvious student. Her friends were nudging her and she was going a slightly pink colour. Amy rolled her eyes; the Doctor certainly attracted a type of person.

Amy turned back to look at the Doctor, then checked them time. "It's about 2pm, what time are we going to head back over to the TARDIS and leave?"

"You want to leave so quickly?" Rory looked a bit upset.

"No! Of course not! I don't want to leave, I just thought, well, I want to know if there's enough time to go shopping or whatever."

The Doctor leaned back in his chair. "I'd say a few days."

"What?"

"We can leave in a few days."

Amy was shocked. " 'A few days'? But you never want to stay in one place for long!"

The Doctor shrugged. "We can head back over to the TARDIS whenever to sleep and go explore more tomorrow… as for now, feel free to go shopping, to the cinema, the theatre, the museum, the castle and anywhere else you feel like!"

"All right… I'd love to go shopping then! C'mon!" and Amy jumped up and began to drag Rory and the Doctor away to the shops.

"Amy!" Rory stopped her dragging him away completely. "Hold on! You two go ahead. I want to check something."

"Check what?" and her emerald eyes narrowed.

"I want to see what's on while we're here! If we're going to be staying a few days I want to make sure we make the most of it! You take the Doctor and I'll phone you when I'm ready to meet up, you do likewise!"

"All right, you look after yourself… sport," she playfully punched his shoulder then wheeled around to see where the Doctor was.

He was standing at the table with all the students around it, talking to the girl. He was smiling and his eyes were glinting. Rory laughed.

"Good luck!" and he disappeared through the door.

Amy walked behind the Doctor and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sorry to disturb you, but we're kind of ready to go now, Rory's already left."

The Doctor apologised to the girl, "It's been a real pleasure speaking to you, ma'am, but I'm afraid my friend is getting a bit impatient. So I'm afraid it'll have to be goodbye."

The girl nodded and smiled, embarrassed.

"See you round!" she fumbled.

They left the café and headed towards Prince's Street, which was "_the_ place for shopping" (in Edinburgh) according to Amy.

"So…" Amy nudged the Doctor and winked.

"What?" the Doctor was confused.

Amy felt like her eyes were going to roll out her head today. "You were completely flirting with her!"

"Excuse me? That was Sophia Anderson!"

"Who?"

"She will become one of the most famous women of the 21st century! At the moment, she is training to become a doctor. She will go into medical research and cure many of the illnesses that plague your generation today. She's an utter genius! She'll be employed by UNIT to help them deal with alien diseases, she's very good at thinking on her feet, and_ I_ personally think that she could do a better job that most of those colonels in there at their own jobs! She's practically going to do everything a doctor _can _do! I couldn't not speak to her!"

"It doesn't mean you weren't flirting."

There was an awkward pause.

"Can we go back to the zoo?"

"No way! We are going shopping!"

And Amy dragged him into the nearest clothes shop she could find.

* * *

After the seventh shop they'd been in, the Doctor was starting to get very impatient. Amy, on the other hand, was completely thrilled at the chance to buy all the clothes she'd been desperate to get as a teenager and never been able to, and took no hesitation in buying them all. The Doctor wasn't used to having to hang around shops all afternoon, whenever all his other companions had wanted to shop, they'd let him wander off, or if they wanted someone with them, they'd take each other.

"Maybe I need to find another girl…"

Amy came out the changing room wearing a printed summer dress in vibrant colours.

"What do you mean, 'another girl'?" she asked him pointedly.

"So you can run off screaming and shopping and I can go look at somewhere _interesting_!"

"I'm keeping you out of trouble! So, what do you think?"

"It's lovely," the Doctor replied, in a voice that sounded like it belonged to a dalek.

"I think I'm going to get it!" Amy grinned and went back inside to change.

The Doctor whistled to himself and tapped his knee. He now knew why Rory had disappeared: to stay out of this hell. Amy's phone began to bleep and vibrate.

"Can you get that?" Amy called from inside.

The Doctor peered into Amy's handbag and found her phone. He took it out, flipped it open and spoke into it cautiously, "hello?"

"Doctor?"

"Oh, Rory! Hello!"

"Is Amy trying on clothes?"

"Yes."

Rory tried to stifle a laugh over the phone.

"Well, if you can, get her away so we can meet up."

And they made arrangements of where to meet up. The Doctor hung up, leaving Rory laughing at the other end.

When Amy came out the changing room, the Doctor was there, ready to pounce on her.

* * *

"So I was just wondering what you guys would like to see tomorrow night."

The Doctor had successfully managed to drag Amy away, with much protesting on her part, so now all three of them were standing in the front room reception of a theatre.

"I thought you'd prefer this play, Amy, but if we want to see this one," Rory held up a leaflet. "Then we'll have to head along over there."

"The one here looks good, but you could have just asked us over the phone!"

The Doctor silently thanked Rory for giving him and excuse to escape while Amy shrugged and began looking at what else was happening around the city. Rory approached the front desk to purchase three tickets.

"What viewing is that on the 15th?" the woman behind the desk asked.

Rory turned around, "Amy, do you want to go to the viewing at five o'clock or the later one?"

"The later one would probably be better so we can fit more in during the day," she replied, thinking of all the shops that the Doctor had pulled her past.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

A man in the corner reading a leaflet looked up at them.

The Doctor looked at him, "Why not?"

"Visiting, are you?"

"You could say that, yeah," the Doctor replied.

"Get back to your hotel or wherever you're staying before dark."

"Why? What happens when it gets dark?" the Doctor stepped towards him, curious.

The man placed the leaflet back in the stand.

"Take the early viewing then go home, and no need to thank me for it. Any decent person would tell you the same," he threw a filthy look at the woman behind the desk and walked out the door.

"The one at five o'clock it is," Rory paid the woman behind the desk.

They walked out the door and started walking back to the TARDIS.

"I knew there was something wrong."

"Oh… god, no! Not this visit, please, Doctor?" Rory looked crestfallen.

The Doctor stopped to buy a newspaper from a stand in the street. "Don't worry, Rory, I'll fix it by the 16th, trust me."

Rory still looked worried and upset, but was slightly comforted by the Doctor's reassurance.

"What happens on the 16th?" Amy asked, confused.

"Never mind, Pond. But you want to know the real reason I wanted to look at Sophia Anderson's newspaper?" the Doctor waved the newspaper he had just bought in front of them, exposing the title:

"**Sixteen Deaths and Twenty-One Disappearances"**

"Hold on, you said it was a false alarm!" Amy protested.

"The answer to that is simple, Pond," the Doctor answered. "I lied."


	6. Perfect

_**Disclaimer:**__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

_

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_

**Chapter 6: Perfect**

"So, what are we going to do?" Amy asked. "Where are we even going?"

"Back to the TARDIS, I'll do a scan of the area; see whether the TARDIS can pick it up."

The Doctor marched along, back along the streets they had strolled through before; Amy was filled with determination, Rory walking along slightly hung, his trip was not going along as planned.

Amy took the newspaper and began to scan it, reading aloud some of the parts she thought were the most important.

"…all sixteen of the killed were men, all of them were apparently 'disfigured' whatever that means… and the twenty one disappearances were all women… all the attacks happened between nine o'clock in the evening and five in the morning, in other words, at night, the youngest to disappear was a sixteen year old girl, that's awful! The police have no idea, well, no suspects anyway… so you whatever's been killing and abducting people is alien, Doctor?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

The walked along in silence.

"I don't think its alien."

The Doctor and Amy turned around to look at Rory, a look of surprise on their faces. Rory saw the confusion on their faces.

"I trained as a nurse in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital… worked there for nine months…" he bowed his head as he remembered. "Some of the people who had been… hurt… there were drunken brawls, but those weren't the worst… the girls who'd been attacked…"

Rory's voice trailed off as he remembered the torn girls, broken by the evil that they had encountered. He looked directly at the Doctor.

"I've seen aliens, but I've seen the horrors that humans can do too. And I don't think that this is alien."

They were lost for words. Amy and the Doctor stared at Rory, his head filled with the memories of what he'd seen. Amy edged towards him, and slowly took his hand. She reached out and lifted his chin up so his face was towards her, their eyes meeting, her bright emeralds looking into his which were filled with tears.

She hugged him.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered in his ear.

The Doctor stood awkwardly as the couple hugged each other. Knowing it was not a good time to interrupt them; he just waited until they broke apart then walked up to Rory and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Rory, but I still think we should check… just in case it _is _something we can sort out."

Rory nodded and tried to smile at the Doctor, trying to wipe away his memories.

And they all walked in silence back to the TARDIS.

"This kinda puts a damper on our holiday, doesn't it?"

They were all in the TARDIS. Amy and Rory were sitting down, listening to the comfortable hum of the TARDIS while the Doctor worked, flicking at switches and pressing buttons, looking at screens, shaking his head and sometimes using a hammer to bang on some switches.

Amy laughed at the Doctor's look of annoyance and turned back to Rory.

"Yeah, a bit, but never mind, the Doctor will sort it out," she responded.

Rory had certainly cheered up, the TARDIS seemed to have that affect on people, being able to comfort and protect them, even in the darkest of days. The Doctor was very attached to her and out of that she seemed more alive, even to humans.

The Doctor hit the console once more and then threw the hammer away in frustration.

"No luck then?"

The Doctor threw himself down on a chair and took the cup of tea Rory offered him gladly.

"There's nothing, _nothing_, to go on! There's no more alien activity than normal here, so either the TARDIS can't pick it up or if it _is _alien is been here a while and just not been so… malevolent. And I've checked some CCTV records, none of the people disappear on camera, but in all the places where the attacks have been thought to take place, there's no sign of anyone entering or leaving the area, so either they're invisible or… I don't know, humans can't become invisible… not yet anyway! None of this makes sense!"

"So it isn't human, unless humans are becoming invisible?" Amy asked puzzled.

The Doctor shrugged. "Unless they stay in the same place all the time, then… yes… oh, I don't know!"

"Maybe the TARDIS is wrong?" Rory asked him.

"The TARDIS is never wrong!"

"Well, Doctor, what would we do if we didn't have the TARDIS?" Rory pointed out defensively.

The Doctor looked over at him then grinned.

"Oh, Mr Pond… you're bringing me back to my senses!"

"What?" Rory was confused.

"C'mon!"

The Doctor jumped up, patted the TARDIS affectionately and then ran to the doors.

"Where are we going?" Amy was only half up out her seat.

"To ask the locals of course!" he grinned maniacally.

And the Doctor ran out the doors. Amy and Rory ran after him, to find him waiting in the street just outside the alleyway. As they were running after him, Amy linked her fingers inbetween Rory's and the Doctor watched them. He'd never really understood why fiery Amelia Pond and quiet Rory Williams had ever gotten together in the first place; they were just so different from each other, but as he watched them run, hand in hand he understood completely.

"What?" Amy asked when they reached him and he continued to just stare at them.

"Nothing…" the Doctor answered, just smiling because it made sense now.

Amy Pond and Rory Williams: they were perfect for each other.

* * *

_I know I'm probably going on about Rory a bit too much but I feel that he doesn't get quite enough credit a lot of the time, and I feel there's probably more to him than we realise so I hope you don't mind._

_I hope you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Peace and Run amigo!_


	7. The Locals

_**Disclaimer:**__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Locals**

The Doctor, Amy and Rory knocked on three separate doors; numbers: six, three and eight. The doors to six and three opened. A young man and an old woman stood in their doorways staring out at the strangers, their eyes narrowed, suspicious.

"Hello, Inspector Smith, I'm investigating the many disappearances that have been happening around the city, I was wondering whether you've noticed anything strange?"

"Hi, my name is Samantha Jones, I'm doing a report for the Daily Record, and I was wondering whether had any idea about what's been going on with all the disappearances recently… what are your thoughts on this whole… situation?"

Rory knocked again on the door.

The man answered shortly, "I've not noticed anything odd, Inspector, sorry. But I hope you catch whoever's been doing this." And the man shut his door.

The old woman scoffed. "It's those bloody damn youths! The government should be doing its job and getting them in school and in jobs. I see them hanging around on street corners whenever I go out to do my shopping, it's a bloody nuisance! It's like no one is bothering looking after them anymore and all they do is watch television and hang around being a nuisance to everyone! Their parents should be making sure that they go and do something useful with themselves and the government should be blooming helping them! All they seem to do is yack yack yack on all day long and never _do _anything! Mind you, _I _got no help from any government when I brought up my own kids, but I still managed to do it! Everyone is far too lazy these days, distracted by new fangled phones and whatsits," she rambled on. "I hope you're getting this all down?"

The Doctor walked away from the closed door, Amy managed to detach herself from the woman and Rory gave up.

"Any luck?" the Doctor asked as he approached them.

"I got an old cow who blabbered on about the government and parents and everything apart from any useful information, and she _made _me write down _everything_ she said! Look!" Amy waved around the several pages of notes she had been made to take.

"I got no answer," Rory shrugged.

"We'll have to keep trying."

And their search for anyone who knew anything about the disappearances continued. Sometimes they got someone who would blame a suspicious looking neighbour and more people moaned about the government not doing their jobs and so on. They began to stretch out onto different streets, further and further out, meeting all sorts of odd people giving odd answers, people slamming the doors in their faces when they hear it's the police or a journalist, but so far no one had given them any information that was at all of use.

"Either nobody knows, or no one wants to say," Rory gasped as he'd been running away from a drunk guy who'd mistaken him for his sister's ex-boyfriend. The man had chased him around the block until he'd bumped into an angry Amy Pond, who after showing him her wedding ring and shouting a few harsh words and a warning about listening to people in the future properly, had given an awkward apology and walked away quickly.

"Someone _must_ know something!" the Doctor exclaimed. "We just have to keep on trying."

"It's no use, Doctor!" Amy complained.

"Okay, we'll try one more house, together, and then we'll go back to the TARDIS to get some sleep and mull things over."

Amy and Rory looked at the Doctor, clearly tired from all the questioning of different people, most of whom did not want to share anything they knew or talk to anyone and the rest who did fancy a nice chat normally dragged on about nothing whatsoever.

"One. That's all. Just. One. More. Okay?"

Amy and Rory shrugged. The Doctor smiled brightly and walked up smartly to the next house along with Amy and Rory trailing behind. When they were standing behind him he knocked on the door and waited.

A woman in about her thirties answered; she had dark hair and dark eyes with a thin but friendly face. She looked at the strangers, rather surprised but smiled politely at them.

"Good evening, ma'am," the Doctor nodded to her. "Inspector Smith," he showed her his physic paper. "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?"

"Of course, would you like to come in?" she stood back to let them in. "The living room's through that way," she pointed to their left. "Would you like a cup of tea?

"ummm…. Yes, thank you, I'll just have it black,"

"Milk and two sugars, please," Amy told her.

Rory shook his head and politely declined. "I don't think I could face another cup today," he whispered to Amy in an undertone.

They all settled in the living room and waited for her to return with three cups of tea, she handed them to Amy and the Doctor, asked Rory if he was sure that he didn't want one then sat down on an armchair and looked at the three 'police officers' sitting opposite her. There was the Inspector, who was quite young with dark messed up hair, dressed in odd clothing, he was sitting casually in another armchair, sipping his tea and watching her. There was a younger girl with bright red hair and another bloke sitting next to her, they were slightly more nervous looking, sitting on the edge of their seats on the sofa, but generally just looked overly tired from a hard day of work.

"I take it your doing a door-to-door?" she asked them.

They all nodded.

The Doctor grinned at her. "We've been knocking on people's doors all over town all day but this is the first invitation in for a cup of tea, thank you!"

"It's no bother at all, I sometimes wish someone would just make me a cup of tea at the end of my day but I come home and the kids are yelling for their tea and Al's still out looking at cars or god knows what at his mate's house, so I know the feeling. You were wanting to ask me some questions?"

"Ah, yes…" the Doctor answered, pulling out a little notebook and a pen.

"It's about the disappearances and the killings, isn't it?"

"Yes. We were wondering whether you know anything, _anything_, that could help us. The smallest, possibly insignificant piece of information?"

She shook her head.

"I'm so sorry, but I've no idea what's going on. The whole city is in panic, wondering who'll be next, mourning people they knew, people they loved… it's… it's just…" her voice trailed off.

The couple sitting on the sofa looked slightly disappointed, like they'd been hoping that they'd have gotten _somewhere_ today. But the man sitting in the armchair was looking right at her, staring into her eyes as if searching her soul. She bent her head down to look at her hands.

The Doctor stood up and walked over, crouched down and placed his hands over hers.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I'm so rude; I didn't even ask you your name first."

"It's Jennifer, Jennifer Downing," she said quietly.

"And what do you work as, Jennifer Downing?"

"I'm a teacher."

"And have you lost someone to this?"

She shook her head slightly. "Not really… it's just the girl, Seraphina Anderson, she was an ex-pupil of mine… she was such a sweet girl… it just makes me think, what happens if one of my kids go missing, this… danger or whatever it is... it's just so _close_."

"Jennifer? Look at me, Jennifer."

She tilted her head up so that she could see the young man who seemed so much older than his face.

"Now, I know that you know something, or have the tiniest smattering of an idea, or have maybe seen something odd out the corner of your eye, but don't worry, no matter how strange or weird it may be, you _have_ to tell us."

She shook her head. "I can't, you'll think I'm insane…"

"No, I promise, we'll believe you, no matter what you say…"

And from those few teachers who had seen the children on the playground, playing their hushed games, laughing their false laughter with forced smiles upon their faces. Those few who had watched them and wondered and known, deep down inside that the children knew something, one stepped forward.

Jennifer Downing looked into the eyes of a young stranger and said the words that no one else would dare to utter: the truth that could save them all.

"It's the children," she whispered. "The children know something."


	8. A Teacher's Confessions

_**Disclaimer:**__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

* * *

**Chapter 8: A Teacher's Confessions**

The Doctor drew a chair nearer to her and sat down.

"What do you mean, 'the children know something'?"

She gulped and started to breathe a bit more heavily, not really believing herself what she was saying.

"It started weeks ago, I thought maybe at first they just had flu or something, and it was getting to the end of term anyway… I thought they were maybe a bit mopey, it'd been a long week, there was so much on: sport's day and finals and everything, but it was after the long weekend that I thought it might be a bit more than that. There had been a few days in service, and I thought the kids would be happier and benefit from it, but they seemed even drearier than before… they weren't acting normal anyway, they weren't acting like children _should_ act."

"What do you mean, what were they doing?" the Doctor asked.

"They weren't _doing _anything really, they were just… they weren't playing normally, if they did ever play in the playground, it was… quieter than normal, and it seemed they felt guilty when they were playing… they mostly just sat in silence, sometimes talking, sometimes not… it was so… oh I don't know!" she cried. "I was wondering whether the disappearances were scaring them, they were certainly, scared, _terrified _in fact, but it wasn't the disappearances, not completely anyway…"

"What was it? Do you know what was scaring the children?"

"I don't really know… they never said anything, even if I asked them what was wrong, they'd just mumble a silly excuse and run away… but… I suppose…" she trailed off, unsure whether she should continue or not.

"Please, Jennifer, you _have_ to say."

"It was weird, one day I was standing in the school office at break-time, doing some photocopying, and two girls from my class were standing outside the door, talking about the disappearances and… well… _monsters_," she looked a bit embarrassed. "And something to do with trees and parks and I can't really remember that well, I wasn't really listening properly, but when I came out… they both looked so scared and worried that I might have overheard them.

"I don't know whether or not it's just the children being silly, but no one has any ideas about what's going on, and… I don't know, I'm sounding mad, aren't I? I just… I just think people don't listen to children enough… and even though it's insane, I think they children _do_ know something…"

The Doctor nodded, and Jennifer looked up to see a smiling face.

"Thank you for telling us this, and you aren't insane, don't worry, we won't send round anyone in a white lab coat to look at you," the Doctor winked at her.

She smiled back, a bit braver and glad that she'd said what had been bothering her.

"You'll probably want to question some children, won't you? I would offer you to interrogate my children, but their getting a bit older now, the twins are sixteen," she rolled her eyes. "But my sister has a little girl, she's been acting a bit strange recently, I teach her you see, normally she's very chatty but… she's been quieter than ever since... I'll write down the address for you."

And Jennifer left the room to find a pen and paper. She returned a minute later, scribbling down an address.

"We'll just wait outside," Amy nodded to the Doctor as he waited for her to finish writing the address down, and Amy and Rory left and waited outside the front door.

"I know you're not the police."

"What?"

Jennifer looked up at the Doctor and laughed slightly.

"I'm not stupid. Besides, they normally go about in pairs rather than threes… and you're pretty young to be an inspector. But… your eyes… please, I know you can help us, please, _please_, find out what's happening," and she held out the bit of paper folded in half. "For everyone's sake."

The Doctor thanked her and took it. He turned to leave but she grabbed his arm.

"…and… my sister's little girl, she's not just been quiet… my sister phoned yesterday… she's refusing to get out of bed, says she's ill, but she hasn't got a temperature or anything, please make sure she's okay…if she is ill, help her, and if she's not… and its something else… please… help her, Doctor…"

The Doctor looked at her confused.

"Oh," as she saw his confused face. "Your badge said 'Inspector Doctor' not 'Inspector Smith'… I'm used to odd names though; I once taught a kid called Water."

She walked with the Doctor to the front door, gave him one last pleading look and closed the door.

"So… are we going to go see this girl now?" Amy asked.

"Nope!"

"What? Why not?"

"Because its getting dark, and from what I've heard, it's not good to be wandering around at night here, besides, you two can get some sleep and I can mull things over in my head for a while, try and get an idea of what we're dealing with."

So the trio walked back towards the TARDIS, when they were just about to turn into the alleyway, the Doctor burst out laughing.

"What?" Amy rounded on the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled. "Look whose house we parked next to!"

And he waved the bit of paper in front of Amy and Rory.

"You don't mean…? We parked right next to that woman's sister's house, the little we're going to see is right next to the TARDIS?" Rory asked exasperated.

"Yeah, it's a strange world… Scotland, a bit small…"

And the Doctor hopped along down the alleyway and into the TARDIS.

Amy ran after him looking insulted, "What did you just say about Scotland?"

Rory shook his head and laughed, then went inside himself.

"I didn't say anything about Scotland being too small or strange at all Amy…" the Doctor cleared his throat.

"Aren't we going to go see thingy now?" Rory asked him gesturing over his shoulder towards the door.

"No, it's about nine o'clock; we better just leave it 'til the morning."

"But their only a thirty second walk away!" Amy complained, dying to get into the action.

"Just leave it Amy, go get some sleep!"

Amy rolled her eyes, "You're being rather boring today, Doctor!" but she grabbed Rory's hand and ran off down the corridor leaving the Doctor to himself.

He ran his hand along the panel.

"Don't worry old girl, I'm going to fix it tomorrow, I don't want to ruin Rory's special trip…" he spoke softly to the TARDIS. "And I'm going to try and get ahead tonight, when those two get to sleep…"


	9. A Nighttime Stroll

_Sorry that I haven't updated in a while, I had this weird bug thing that meant I slept 'til mid afternoon most days and didn't bother doing anything productive during the time I was awake... or is that just me being lazy? Nah, seriously, I've been having some trouble with colds and everything and I've had to go out to the town and everything (which is fine if you live in the town, but when you live in the middle of nowhere then its basically your whole afternoon to go to the blooming supermarket so you can eat). Its not really an excuse so I'll apologise anyway. Again. Sorry. *cringes at stick which appears out of nowhere to hit her on the head*_

_**Disclaimer:**__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

* * *

**Chapter 9: Night-time Stroll**

Amy half opened her eyes to the dimly lit room of the TARDIS. She groaned slightly. It was the same feeling she got when she woke up in the middle of the night when she was a kid, the longing to stay in the warm, comfortable bed but the excitement of exploration came crashing down making her get up out of curiosity. She didn't understand why she was feeling this now, in the TARDIS she normally woke up and was awake, in which she got up without any guilt or she fell asleep again, the TARDIS' humming soothing her back to sleep.

But tonight there was something apart from the warmth, curiosity and excitement. Amy felt like there was something wrong. She lay down and thought for a moment, rather groggy from first waking up. She stared at the wall, squinting her eyes as she wondered what was different.

Deciding she couldn't stand the curiosity any longer, she slowly lifted Rory's arm and placed it over his chest so she could slip out. She sat at the edge of the bed and looked about the room, checking to see if anything was different. As far as she could tell, it was the same as ever. She stood up and slipped her feet into some slippers and grabbed her dressing gown from the chair in the corner. She checked to make sure Rory was still sleeping soundly and slipped out the door. She closed it and looked around the corridor she was in, still not able to place her finger on what was different. Amy decided that the best thing to do was to go find the Doctor; he'd probably be able to tell her what was different… what was wrong. She set off down the corridor the TARDIS control room.

"Doctor?"

She looked around the room, but no one was there. She called out again. Still there was no answer. She sighed and went to check the local time on the console. She was relieved to see it was still Edinburgh, Scotland in 2004, but it was 12.12am on the 15th of July. She sighed and leaned casually on the console, her head repeating the same three questions over and over again: What's wrong?; Where's the Doctor?; and Why did Rory pick 2004?

And then Amy realised what was wrong. She looked up in surprise when she realised. The TARDIS was being very quiet, her usual hum had disappeared. Amy looked up at her, sensing that something was wrong.

"What is it? Are you always this quiet at night?"

Amy gently stroked the side of the console, thinking of the Doctor. The TARDIS bleeped and whirred unnaturally.

"What's the matter? Is it the Doctor? Do you know where he is?"

Amy stared thoughtfully at the great pillar towering above her.

"You _don't_ know where he is, so he must have gone outside…?"

The TARDIS hummed gently and Amy took that as a 'yes'.

"Don't worry, I'll go outside and find him. I'll drag him back here if I have to!"

Amy set off to the door, assuming that the Doctor can't have gotten very far, but the TARDIS made a worried whirring noise. Amy stopped and turned around a little startled, she'd never realised that the TARDIS was so… _alive_.

"I'll be fine," Amy looked at the door carefully, unsure whether or not she should go out, but she felt determined to find the Doctor. "I'll be back soon."

And she opened the doors to step outside.

The TARDIS continued to whirr frantically, but stopped, exhausted, when she knew that Amy would not be coming back. The ship was silent, apart from Rory snoring ever so slightly back in his and Amy's room. Everything was just as it normally was apart from the missing people and one small but significant detail: the TARDIS scanner had changed. Now, instead of showing only the so called 'usual' alien presences, there were fifty eight angry red dots marked out across the map, all advancing towards one small blue one marked 'Doctor'.

* * *

Amy gasped as the cold air hit her as she stepped outside of the TARDIS. For July it was pretty cold. She wasn't completely sure where she should look for the Doctor, so she just paused outside the doors, taking in deep breathes and getting used to the cold night air. Quietly she walked out of the alleyway, her eyes adjusting to the dim light. Once they were working properly again, they searched for a man in tweed sporting a bow-tie, or in fact, any figure at all. Amy thought it was rather strange for it to be so quiet at this time in the middle of a city, but she remembered the stories of disappearances and the fear in people's eyes. She could almost sense why they'd be scared to come out anyway, the atmosphere was eerily quiet. In that case, the Doctor wouldn't have strayed far, would he have? She turned to check the house that the Doctor had indicated to, but it was obvious that the residents were fast asleep.

"Oh Doctor, where _are _you? You can't have been that stupid to have gone wandering off?" she bit her lip. "Well obviously, you _have_ been!"

Amy sighed and tensed up as she walked down the street, looking for the Doctor.

"Doctor?" she called out.

There was no reply.

"_Doctor!_" she called out louder.

This time a strange fluttering noise answered her. She turned to her right to see where it came from, but it was just an empty park. She stared at it for a while, suspicious that she may have seen a figure in the park out of the corner of her eye.

"Hello?"

She walked across the road and stared to see if she could see anyone in the shadows but she couldn't see much further than a couple of feet in the dark. She leaned towards the metal fence staring out into nothingness. An old gate creaked as a slight breeze blew past her. She walked over and entered into the park, wondering what someone, whether or not that person is the Doctor, would be doing in a park all alone at night. Before she'd gotten far she stopped herself. 'What am I doing?' she thought to herself. 'It could be a loony or a drunk or _anyone_…' But she continued.

"Doctor?" she whispered hoarsely, her throat was dry from fear.

Amy felt the strange fluttering sound closer than ever, just behind her. She turned around, staring into the dark. Nothing was there. She stepped forward once, but all she could see were the faraway dim lights of the street from where she had come. She relaxed slightly and rolled her eyes.

"I'm acting like I was as a child, a very definite overactive imagination!" she laughed softly to herself remembering.

There was a giggle over her left ear and she turned around sharply, looking for the source.

"Is there someone there?"

She saw a dark shape moving and she edged towards it.

"Are you okay?"

It flew past her quickly and she tried to chase after it.

"Don't worry! I'm here to help… I'm…" her voice trailed off as she realised she wasn't speaking to a lost girl. "You're not one of those missing people, are you?"

There was more giggling and fluttering. Amy looked around her in panic as she saw only random figures darting past her. She kept turning and trying to focus on them, to see what they were, but failing.

"Who are you?"

There was only more giggling from the figures and they circled her always slightly ahead of her view.

"Doctor!" she called out more panicked.

The figures only shrieked with a strange screeching laughter. Amy knew now that they were laughing at her, teasing her. She wasn't there helping anyone or scaring them, she was there as their game, and they continued to tease her again and again, circling around her. Amy tried to run away, she tried to run back to the safe lights of the street but every time she tried they all got closer and she'd feel the fluttering and the giggles and see the shapes.

"Doctor!" she called out desperately. "If you're there now would be a really good time to-"

Amy felt something stroke her hair slowly. The giggles stopped. Amy stood as still as she possibly could, too terrified to look behind her. The dark figures that had teased her were now quiet, watching her. Amy's breathing grew louder and louder in the quiet air as she got the feeling she was being observed. There was a soft sigh next to her ear and two hands were placed on either of her shoulders. She knew that something terrible was going to happen, but she was too scared to do anything about it. She knew that whatever these things were, they were too fast for her and treated her like a child, teasing her and laughing, she knew they could overpower her easily and… she just seemed to give up hope. She would become the twenty second girl to have disappeared and no one would know where to look for her… but for some reason… Amy was very calm about this. Her breathing began to slow done and she wasn't as alarmed as before. To be honest, she didn't know why she was so scared earlier… this wasn't a bad thing, on the contrary, it felt quite nice, like she was being fussed over and admired by her mother. She felt as though she was being turned slowly on the spot by the mothering creature, she then heard a shout.

"AMY!"

Who was that again? Oh, the Doctor… Amy didn't care enough to think about him anymore, why was he sounding so panicked?

"AMY! CLOSE YOUR EYES!"

Then Amy realised why. She was being fussed over by some creature from outerspace that was stealing people and killing others… Amy was completely shocked at how she was allowing this to happen. She was about to turn around completely and face this, this, _thing_, when the Doctor called out once more.

"AMY! EYES! CLOSE! NOW!"

And Amy quickly shut her eyes.


	10. Touching a Nerve

_**Disclaimer:**__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

* * *

**Chapter 10: Touching a Nerve**

"Don't worry Amy, I'm here."

Amy felt the Doctor right beside her and grabbed onto his arm.

"Doctor! Where have you been? What's happening? What are these things? Why didn't they-"

"Amy, now is probably not the best time to be asking questions," the Doctor told her quickly.

The creatures were advancing on them slowly, their giggles turned to snarls. The Doctor was fumbling about in his pocket, searching for something, muttering to himself, head down. Amy felt the breath of the creatures coming closer and closer to her.

"_Doctor_!"

"I need… I need… oh, where is it?" the Doctor paid her no attention, still muttering to himself as he searched deeper and deeper into his pockets. "Ah-HA!"

And he withdrew something from his pocket and waved it around. The creatures quickly disappeared into the darkness; their snarls became whimpers as they darted away.

"You can open your eyes now, Pond, and let go of me."

Amy slowly opened her eyes to see the Doctor brandishing a long stick with a light and a funnel on the end of it. She couldn't see any of the creatures around, so she let go of the Doctor's arm and looked around her, worried that they would come back.

"What did you do?" Amy asked, wondering what could scare off such terrifying monsters.

"Advanced technology," the Doctor grinned. "Scared them off, they can handle humans, sure, but once they see something that is a little ahead of them, they run away."

"Aren't they going to come back?"

"Yes, of course, that's why we need to get out of here and back to the TARDIS before they follow us. Come on, Pond."

And the Doctor set off towards the street of lights, with Amy following him close behind, definitely not wanting to be left in the dark again.

"So, why did you sneak off by yourself?"

"To find out what they were, so see whether I could just ask them to leave politely, or if they need a shove or if I needed to… do something else to get rid of them," the Doctor looked uncomfortable, not wanting to say the words 'dispose of' or 'kill'.

"Did you find out what they were?"

"Nope."

"Did you find out what they looked like?"

"No."

"How did you know that they would run away from that thing?"

"I'm a good guesser."

"So basically, all of that was down to chance and we learned _nothing _about them?"

"No, of course not. I found out that if you don't look at them, you're safe… sort of."

"Apart from that, did we find out anything useful?"

The Doctor thought for a minute. "Nope!"

"So why did I close my eyes again?"

"They wanted you to see them, so they would have the right to take you away; they wanted you for something…"

"For what?"

"I don't know, to eat you, absorb your life energy, to make you their queen, I don't know!" the Doctor held up his arms in frustration.

"What is that thing anyway?" Amy looked unsure at what the Doctor was holding in his hand.

"This?" the Doctor held up the mechanism which had scared away the monsters. "It's a combination of a torch and a hairdryer."

"So you can dry your hair in the dark?" Amy smirked.

"Its very handy for camping," the Doctor defended it. "It comes complete with a toothbrush, facecloth and other toiletries and generally _useful _things for people who fuss about it. A little like _you _do, Pond."

And the Doctor showed her the small compartments that slid out of the handle as they approached the streetlights. As Amy was peering curiously into one, finding a pair of nail scissors, the Doctor snapped it shut quickly, making her jump.

"But do you know what the _real _question is here?" he asked her, tapping her shoulder with the camping-kit. "What are _you _doing out here in the middle of the night?"

"I woke up and you weren't there, the TARDIS was worried about you," Amy said casually, slipping through the gate.

The Doctor followed her, still annoyed. "The TARDIS _always _worries about me; it doesn't give you an excuse to go wandering off in the dark! You were almost taken away by them; Rory might never have seen you again!"

"Well it wasn't safe for you either! You could have been killed!"

"No, I was perfectly safe, I wouldn't have died…"

"Oh and why's that?" Amy didn't believe him.

"Time Lord stuff," the Doctor said vaguely, they set off down to street to the alleyway where the TARDIS had landed. "Besides, you should _never _just wander off, haven't you learned that yet?"

"Well, maybe if someone was honest all the time I wouldn't need to!" Amy argued back, put off by the fact the Doctor was treating her like a child who'd just eaten a biscuit without asking.

"Amelia," the Doctor rounded on her. "There are some I don't tell you for very good reasons, and others that I don't say because I would just rather forget. Don't blame me for you wandering off and getting lost… or worse and just because I don't tell you every significant and insignificant detail of my life doesn't give you an excuse to go and do stupid things. Now get into the TARDIS!"

The Doctor pointed down the alleyway and a reluctant Amy went inside silently, the Doctor followed her in, locking the door. The TARDIS was delighted to see them both back safe and well, but her whirring became a lot quieter when she realised that they'd had an argument.

Amy stood watching the Doctor, her arms folded. The Doctor looked at her apologetically.

"Amy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get angry."

"What things?" Amy stepped closer to him.

"What?"

"What things are you not telling me? Those 'significant details of your life' what are they?"

"Oh," the Doctor paused and looked at her. "When you said being honest you meant…"

"…wandering off without saying anything," Amy finished for him. "Yeah. I didn't realise you were actually hiding something."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"Well I certainly touched a nerve Doctor and it triggered that big speech you gave."

The Doctor sighed. "Amy, it's a very long story, I'll tell you it some other time."

"What… have you done something wrong, Doctor, are you on the run from your people or something?"

The Doctor looked at her sadly. "I'm nine hundred years old; I've done lots of things that I'm not proud of. But I'll tell you them some time, but for now, you go and get to sleep, before Rory finds out that you wandered off, he's worried enough about you without finding out you were right in the grasp's of them."

Amy nodded slowly, feeling a bit guilty. She was still reluctant to go, she hesitated.

"Doctor, if there's anything you need to get off your chest, you can talk to me about it…"

"Thanks, Amy, but I'm fine. We need to concentrate on this first; we'll go see the little girl first thing tomorrow. Now go and get to sleep."

Amy left.

The Doctor sighed at his memories and then went to check the scanner in the TARDIS.

"Oh, that's… odd…" he noted, seeing the marks on the screen where the creatures were. "Why weren't they showing up before…?"

The Doctor checked a few more things on the console and then stood back, confused.

"I'll go do some reading up on this, see if I can find anything…" the Doctor said, partly to the TARDIS, partly to himself.

And he set off to do some late night reading while Amy slipped back into her bed and snuggled up to Rory, glad he was still sleeping.


	11. Meeting Hazel

_**Disclaimer:**__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did) or any of the characters in this, they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary) and this is completely fan-made and for entertainment purposes only!_

* * *

**Chapter 11: Meeting Hazel**

"What's our cover story then?" Amy asked the Doctor.

It was mid morning, the Doctor had let Amy and Rory sleep in, mainly due to the fact Amy had been wandering around outside the night before. Amy was grateful that the Doctor just quietly muttered that he felt like they deserved a rest when Rory questioned why the Doctor hadn't woken them up early in the morning as he normally does. They were standing at the bottom of the path leading up to number four.

"We're not going to have a cover story. For once we're going to be completely honest."

And the Doctor marched up to the front door and knocked on it smartly four times. He paused and knocked on it once more, then dropped his hand and smiled at Rory and Amy, who were a little puzzled.

"When you say _completely_ hones-"

The door opened rather suddenly and a small dark haired woman who looked around thirty looking harassed looked at the three strangers with surprise. The Doctor smiled politely at her.

"Hello, ma'am, your sister Jennifer Downing sent us. My name is the Doctor and this-"

"You're a Doctor?" the woman interrupted.

The Doctor nodded slowly.

"And Jenny sent you?"

He nodded again.

"Oh, thank goodness!" she threw open the door. "Come in! Come in!"

The trio stepped through the door cautiously and she led them through to the kitchen and started making tea.

"My name's Amy," Amy smiled at her.

"And I'm Rory," Rory added in.

"I'm so glad you're here!" she sounded so relieved.

She finished making the cups of tea and handed one to each of them quickly and then leaned against the kitchen counter and watched them, looking very happy that they were here. The Doctor sipped the tea politely while she jabbered on not being very clear of anything then placed the cup down on the counter.

"I'm sorry I never got your name…?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just… the past couple of weeks have been quite stressful. I'm Angela McCrimmon," she looked a bit embarrassed. "But please, you're here to help my daughter Hazel, aren't you?"

"Yes, but what exactly is the problem with her?"

"That's the problem, I don't know, she just insists that she doesn't feel well… she's not been acting normal for a month or so, but yesterday she said she felt ill so I let her stay in bed all day and now she's refusing to get up to eat or anything and I don't know whether it's a bad bug or something more serious or whether she's just acting funny on purpose… she's only eight years old, she doesn't seem properly ill but I don't know, I'm not a doctor or a nurse…"

"Is it just you two at home?" Rory asked, feeling sorry at the idea of the pair of them alone.

"And my husband as well, he's not been able to convince her to come out either, which is strange… they both get along so well and she's just being, well, _distant_. Chris is out at the moment, he just popped down to the shops…"

The Doctor was watching her closely.

"Is it okay if we could have a word with Hazel?" he asked carefully.

"Of course, come with me," she gestured for them to follow and left the room.

She led them up the stairs and tapped on the first door to the right.

"Hazel?"

She opened the door when there was no reply and revealed a small bedroom painted a sky-blue colour with a window on one side overlooking a park and a bed sitting in the corner with a bundle of blankets lying on top. Angela sat down on the edge of the bed and bent over the bundle.

"Hazel, its mum, how are you feeling?"

There was an incoherent mumble from the bed.

"There's someone here to see you. He's a doctor and he wants to talk to you, is that all right?"

"I'm _fine_, mum, I don't need a doctor, just some rest," the bundle complained loudly.

"Don't be silly, dear, we just need to make sure you're okay. The Doctor is just going to do his job and make sure you aren't too badly ill, that's all. You just yell if you need anything, I'll be downstairs."

Angela smiled weakly at the Doctor, nodded to Amy and Rory and left, closing the door quietly as she left. The Doctor waited until they heard her go down the stairs and into the kitchen. He then sat on the end of her bed where her mother had sat before and looked down at the lump of blankets.

"Hello Hazel, how are you today?" he asked her.

"I'm _fine_. Well, I don't feel well but it's nothing serious," she curled up into a tighter ball. "I'll be fine in a few days."

"How do you feel ill? What feels wrong?" Rory's concern as a nurse came rushing up to the front of their worries.

"Who's that?" she sounded panicked.

"My name is Rory, I'm a nurse."

The bundle hesitated. "Everything hurts…"

"Hazel…?" the Doctor asked.

She didn't answer.

"Hazel, I want to see your face, is that okay?"

"I guess so…"

The Doctor leaned forward and pulled back the covers to reveal her face peeking up out of the covers, on its side, her eyes closed tightly as the sun hit them and the rest of her face looking worried.

"That's better, isn't it?" the Doctor chirped cheerfully. "Now… Hazel. I want you to tell us exactly what's wrong."

"I've already told you, I feel ill," she began to turn over to face the wall.

"No, not about that. I want you to tell us what's wrong."

Hazel paused then turned over to face the centre of the room again.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she finally answered.

"Don't be silly, we know that you know something that you're not saying and you might as well make our job easier by helping us and in return, we'll be able to help you."

"Nothing can help me."

"That's where you're wrong." Amy stepped forward, talking for the first time since they'd been in her room. "We can help you… the Doctor can at least, he's saved my life so many times and he can help you too, no matter what the problem is."

The girl lay quietly, thinking about Amy had said. The Doctor had smiled at her words but looked back at Hazel, his eyes narrowed. She was obviously scared of something, absolutely _terrified_, but why did that mean…?

"Why haven't you gotten out of bed Hazel?"

Her eyes were still tightly closed as she replied, slowly but shakily.

"I _can't_."

"Why not?" the Doctor's concern began to rise.

"I just can't."

"Hazel?" he asked her, deadly serious.

"…what?"

"What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Nothing," she answer quickly.

"Then why haven't you opened them?"

She didn't answer.

"Tell me why you haven't opened them."

"You'd never believe me…" she whispered.

"Try me."

She took a deep breathe in which the Doctor looked at her, completely unsure of what she was about to say.

"I can't open my eyes."

"Why can't you open your eyes?" Amy asked her stepping forward slightly, curious

"I can't open my eyes so I can't get out of bed. I can't _see_!" she cried.

And she began to cry. The Doctor leaned forward and began to peer into her face intently, as if he was trying to see exactly what the problem was with her eyes. He then slowly began to wipe away her tears and speak softly to her, like a father would to his child.

"What happened?"

"It was _them_," she gulped.

"Who are they?"

"Doctor?"

The Doctor glanced over to Amy who was standing by a desk; she was looking at something on a bit of paper she'd picked up.

"What is it?"

"It's… just a drawing, a kid's drawing… sorry, never mind," she went to place down again.

"Show me, Pond."

She handed it to him and asked him, "What is it?"

The Doctor looked at it.

"It's them."

All three of them looked over at the small girl lying on her bed, listening to them intently, her tear stained face staring at them, with her eyes closed.

"It's them," she repeated.

She then turned over to bury her head into her pillow.


	12. An Explanation

_Hi everyone! Thanks for the great reviews so far, I'm sorry about the last chapter, I felt it was quite rushed and if I get round to it I'll re-edit, but at the moment I'm just going to keep it there because it leads into this chapter, which hopefully won't be as rushed cause I have a few days doing nothing whereas before I was going out and felt guilty because I haven't updated in a while._

_Yes, Hazel is the little girl from the first chapter who had the run in with the… baddies (read on in this chapter and you'll find out more about them). They are a new monster but have some… familiar elements about them._

_So… enjoy and I'll look forward to reading some of your reviews… and if you aren't planning on reviewing, then enjoy it anyway! :-)_

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did!) or any of the Characters in this (well, some are my own creation, but the main characters aren't), they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary). This is completely fan made and for entertainment purposes only._

* * *

**Chapter 12: An Explanation**

The Doctor looked down at the bit of paper Amy had handed him. On it he could see the swirls of pencil marks that the child had drawn so painstakingly carefully. It was a slight figure, enchantingly beautiful for an eight year old's attempt but the girl had drawn the face cruel and angry despite the features being set perfectly in the face which most species would call attractive. There were smooth arches that ran from the middle of the shoulder blades outwards and up above the head and dropping down again, creating shapes and forming two wings.

The Doctor glanced back over at Hazel shoving her head into her pillow and at Amy watching him study the picture.

Her voice was low and quiet as she spoke.

"It's just a kid's drawing though, isn't it, Doctor?"

He gave Amy a look which plainly said that pictures drawn by children shouldn't be ignored.

The Doctor stood up and walked over to the desk. There were piles upon piles of bits of paper littering it, each one of the same creature. The pictures were slightly different, in some the creature was bent over in a different way or it was with several others or there was a different background or setting. Some drawings were better than others, it varied from ones she had obviously spent hours on, perfecting all the details of the face to ones which looked liked they'd been scribbled quickly in the dark of the night.

Amy peered over his shoulder and looked at the desk too, covered in Hazel's pictures. There were a few books laid on the edges of the surface, varying too: children's fairytale books to an old green hard-covered book which looked like it belonged in an adult's study with a nineteenth century picture of a winged figure on the cover. The remaining spaces between the books and bits of paper were crammed with other bits and bobs which had used to be in the prime position but were now demoted priorities. They'd only been given the little space left that hadn't been given over to this new topic that she was so interested in. Pens and pencils were strewn over the whole desk; their ancient holder had been lost long ago.

The room was cluttered but not unpleasant. Given that the girl had been ill for the past few days it wasn't in a bad condition, but the clutter was slightly strange in ways. Rory's eyes darted from the cluttered desk to the row of clocks on the floor to a torch left forgotten on the floor to a small notebook sitting on an armchair. His eyes looked up to find the Doctor gazing around at all the small things that he'd been looking at, his eyes concerned but they seemed to have a hint of… was it amusement?

The Doctor cleared his throat and, still holding the picture, went to sit at the end of Hazel's bed again. Her sobs had now quietened down and despite still being terrified, she wasn't hysterical. The Doctor smiled at her despite the fact her eyes were still closed.

"These are fantastic pictures, Hazel!" the Doctor looked at them, still smiling. "Do you plan on being an artist some day?"

She lifted her head off her pillow and sat up, turning her face towards the end of her bed and gave what would have been a very cold stare to the Doctor.

"I can't see."

The Doctor shrugged. "Beethoven went deaf."

Hazel's expression began to soften and she smiled for the first time since they'd been in the room.

"I love art, but I love other things too."

The Doctor smiled. "I bet you'll do great in everything you try…" he waited for her to smile in thanks for the compliment, "but you have to help me so I can help you."

The Doctor paused again to see Hazel's reaction. She slowly nodded.

"Hazel… why can't you see?"

Hazel hesitated. "It's not that I can't see… it's that I can't open my eyes."

The Doctor edged closer to her. "Why not?"

Hazel wasn't sure whether she should say or not, she opened her mouth to speak but paused and closed it again. She took a deep breath.

"They say that if I open my eyes for more than a minute… they'll kill my parents."

"Who told you that?"

Hazel didn't answer.

The Doctor looked down at the picture he was holding.

"You drew pictures of them… didn't you?"

Hazel nodded. "…the fairies…"

"How do you know about them?"

She bit her lip.

"At school… people were telling me stories about the monsters that were attacking people… I thought they were being silly at first, but everyone was taking it so seriously. Then, about a month ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw some from my window… I needed to find out more about them, so I tried reading some books, but I couldn't find any, just some in fairy tales… there were a few grown up books, but they were hard to understand. Most nights I'd stay up late to try and see them again and I'd draw pictures of them. But I tried to find out more about them by watching them, and I needed to know when they appeared… so that's when I took all the clocks up here. But… a few days ago they saw me when I was watching them from my window… so they punished me."

"Why did they punish you?"

Hazel gave a small shrug. "Because I saw them when I wasn't supposed to."

"Why so many clocks?" Rory asked her.

"… er… do you see how they aren't the same time on all of them, a minute or two out?"

"Yeah…" Rory examined two of the clocks.

"When… _they_ appear the clocks are all the same time."

"Is that so…?" the Doctor leaped up and started to look at all the clocks carefully in turn. He then stepped over to the window and peered outside, looking down at a ring of trees in the park where he and Amy had been attacked the night before.

"So… sir, can you help us?"

"Maybe…" the Doctor gazed out the window thoughtfully. "… yes I can, but only if you tell me every single thing you know about them."

He spun around to look at Hazel again who was smiling now.

"The red notebook on my armchair," she pointed. "Take it, and read it, I wrote down everything I could find out about them. And I glued my best pictures in as well."

"Oh… Hazel McCrimmon, you are very, very good," the Doctor smiled as he picked up the red book. "Very clever, you'll definitely go far…"

He flicked through it quickly. Then he looked back at the child on the bed.

"… when you've gotten rid of them… can you come back and help me?" she requested quietly, _guiltily_ as though she shouldn't be asking.

"Of course, right now, in fact, _you_ are my main priority!" the Doctor hopped across to Hazel, who was looking confused.

"… shouldn't the monsters be your main priority?"

"Well, I can't do anything about them until its dark… well, midnight," the Doctor grinned at her. "But right now Hazel, you're going to have to trust me."

She nodded as the Doctor knelt down in front of her. He placed two fingers on either side of her head.

"Think about what you saw last night…"

There was silence where everyone stood still, the Doctor and Hazel sitting completely still, Hazel's memories rushing through to the Doctor. Amy and Rory stood transfixed, never having seen the Doctor do anything like this before.

"Hazel, do you trust me?"

Hazel nodded slowly.

"Open your eyes."

Hazel looked pained. "I can't!"

"Trust me."

Hazel lifted her hands up and gripped the Doctor's arms, bracing herself. She gulped down and bowed her head.

"Hazel… please, trust me, you said if you open your eyes for more than a minute… all you need to do is open them for a few seconds…"

Hazel sat completely still for a minute. Then, quickly as though she was taking the plunge, her eyes opened and stared at the room around her. She counted under her breath, her brown eyes flicking from the Doctor to the two people standing behind him to her closed door. When she reached five she closed her eyes quickly, not wanting to risk longer than she could.

"Well done Hazel!" the Doctor opened his eyes and looked at her. He then drew his hands away and smiled.

"What did you do?" Amy looked bewildered.

"He looked through my mind and memories to try and figure out how to help…" Hazel grinned. "And you found one!"

"And how did you know that?" the Doctor smiled slyly at Amy and Rory.

"Well, I could see your thoughts too, some of them anyway…"

The Doctor laughed.

"I'll be back in a minute. I need to go and get something to block the signal, so you can open your eyes."

"What signal?" Rory asked.

"She can open her eyes, but if she does for a long period of time then the 'fairies' will receive a signal, a sort of buzzer or alarm that they've put in her mind. I definitely have something in the TARDIS which will be able to block the signal getting out. So… Hazel, I'll have to go root around for a while and I'll be back soon and you'll be able to go about normal without having to worry."

Hazel smile drooped.

"Do you have to leave?"

"It'll just be for a bit, Amy and Rory can stay here and look after you, and I'll be back in half an hour, tops."

"… that's okay, I guess…"

The Doctor patted her on the head and then left the room, leaving Amy, Rory and Hazel sitting in an awkward silence.

"So…" Amy wasn't sure what to say.

"Will he come back?" Hazel asked them.

Amy and Rory exchanged quick glances at each other, remembering the times when the Doctor had told them he'd be back soon.

"…he always comes back," Amy answered unsure. "Is there anything you want us to do for you? Like… a story? Or are you too old for stories?"

Hazel shrugged and lay back down on her bed. "My dad tells me stories."

"Well… how about hearing a new one?" Amy sat on the end of her bed.

"…okay!"

"Well, it's about a strange man with no name… he calls himself the Doctor. He's the most extraordinary person you could ever meet. One day he would just land in your back garden in a funny blue box and change your life forever," Amy improvised the story that she had played in her head as a child.

Hazel just laughed and Amy felt a little bit hurt.

"…sorry if that's too strange for you!" Amy decided to just be playful about it.

"No, it's not too strange I've just heard it before!"

Hazel carried on giggling while Amy and Rory exchanged looks again.

"How can you know the story already?" Rory looked at her.

The girl just shrugged. "My dad told me it when I was little. The strange man in the blue box which is bigger on the inside… the Doctor and his friends and his funny habits and travelling to new planets and new worlds and the future and so on."

And the three of them sat in silence. Amy and Rory trying to figure out a way the girl and her father could possibly know about the Doctor, and Hazel wondering what she could have possibly done wrong.

* * *

The TARDIS was littered junk. There were several opened suitcases and trunks strewn about the floor, with their contents half emptied. The Doctor was yelling in frustration and he almost fell through a hole in the floor. He jumped down and peered into it then pulled out another suitcase and threw it open. He plunged his hands into it, searching for a small object.

"Ah-HA!" the Doctor cried and he lifted his hands up to reveal a small pendant on a silver chain.

The Doctor grinned as the pendant sparkled in the light of the TARDIS. He brought it closer to his face to examine it closely.

"I've not seen you in a long time…" he lifted his hands higher and allowed it to swing hypnotically in front of him for a minute. "Let's go then!"

The Doctor leaped up and rushed out the TARDIS.


	13. A Present

_Hi... I feel really really really bad for not updating in ages, there's not really any excuse, but I'll give it a shot! Well, the school term has started and its all been a bit hectic, last weekend I was pretty busy doing all the homework that I'd been given (so much homework in the first week is cruel) as well as getting into a routine with everything else. So, now I'm into a routine, I will hopefully post the next chapter before October (seeing as I'm getting worse each time)._

_Another small author's note at the bottom, enjoy!_

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Doctor Who (no matter how much I wish I did!) or any of the Characters in this (well, some are my own creation, but the main characters aren't), they are owned by the BBC and Steven Moffat (who is legendary). This is completely fan made and for entertainment purposes only._

* * *

**Chapter 13: A Present**

The Doctor knocked on the door three times for politeness sake, and then threw it open himself.

"Just me!" he called to Angela who had just poked her head through the doorway from the kitchen, and he ran up the stairs to Hazel's room clutching the precious pendant he had found in the TARDIS.

He opened the door to Hazel's room as Angela rolled her eyes and muttered to herself about 'young eccentrics'. The scene he witnessed at first glance was not the one he had left half an hour, he glanced at one of the many clocks, _fourty-five_ minutes ago. Amy was sitting on the end of Hazel's bed and Rory was standing awkwardly next to the desk, Hazel was leaning back on her pillow with a small smile on her face. The Doctor quickly registered the scenario, and then chose to ignore it.

"Hello again, Hazel!" the Doctor grinned. "I have a present for you…"

He stepped forward and knelt down in front of her. Hazel sat up quickly looking hopeful. The Doctor fondled the pendant on the chain for a moment, then jokingly told Hazel, "close your eyes!" Hazel giggled.

The Doctor lifted the chain and placed it around Hazel's neck.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." Hazel hesitated. "Its fine, don't worry, they won't know you have them open."

Hazel slowly blinked her eyes open. The first face she saw was the Doctor's, who was grinning as her brown eyes thanked him deeply for helping her. Her eyelids drooped as she looked down at the crystal star on the end of the silver chain. She traced her fingers around it, gazing a small smile lighting up her face.

"Now, if you keep on wearing that, you'll be fine and they won't find out you've opened your eyes, but you _must_ keep it on until everything is sorted out."

Hazel nodded slowly, still transfixed at the small object on the end of the chain.

"How will I know when you've sorted everything out?" she asked him.

"I'll come and tell you of course… and if I don't, you'll know… they'll stop appearing, people will stop disappearing and everyone will be more relaxed, the stories will eventually become the past and you'll forget everything about this…" the Doctor grinned as Hazel's face showed the shock she felt that she would forget it all. "But its better that way," he whispered.

Hazel shook her head at the Doctor.

"I won't ever forget…"

The Doctor laughed and ruffled her hair as he stood up.

"So… Amy, Rory..." the Doctor raised his eyebrows and rubbed his hands together, a glint of adventure was in his eyes. "We should probably get to work… so… Hazel! It's been brilliant meeting you! Hopefully we'll cross paths again sometime… but we'd better go and sort everything out!"

The Doctor beamed and Hazel grinned back at the strange man who had saved her life. The Doctor patted her on the head and turned to leave.

"Erm… Doctor?" Amy asked him nervously.

"What is it Amy?"

"…you know that story I heard when I was a kid… about a strange man with a blue box?"

The Doctor raised one eyebrow. "Yeah…?"

"Well, Hazel knows the story…"

Hazel was watching all of them curiously, slightly confused by the awkwardness of Amy and Rory and the bemused face of the Doctor. Then, it clicked inside her head and she smiled as she realised who the strange man who had helped her was. The Doctor turned to Hazel.

"Where did you hear the story?"

"From my Dad."

"And where did you're dad hear it from?"

Hazel shrugged. "My grandfather I think…" there was a loud bang and the three time travellers jumped. The small girl giggled as they looked around confused.

"It's just the front door: it always bangs like that when it's windy." There were two voices speaking quickly and then the sound of footsteps running up the stairs and the door to Hazel's room burst open. A figure stood in the doorway, with brown eyes exactly like Hazel's surveying the room. They clicked on Hazel sitting up in her bed smiling and the man ran to his little girl and gave her a massive hug which she returned.

"Hazel honey! Are you feeling better?"

"Much, _much_ better!"

"That's the spirit, old girl!" and Hazel giggled.

The man turned around to face the Doctor, Amy and Rory and thanked them for helping.

"It was no bother at all!" the Doctor smiled. "You've got a great kid there!"

He winked at Hazel and she grinned back.

"Well how about a cup of tea to say thanks?"

The Doctor hesitated.

"Thank you, that'd be great," Rory answered for him.

And they all trooped downstairs where Angela had already put on five cups of tea. Hazel ran to her mum and gave her a hug, then poured herself a glass of milk and leaned against her dad, delighted that her parents weren't in danger any longer.

"So… Chris? I understand that you told Hazel stories when she was little?"

"Yeah…"

"Would you mind telling me where you heard the story about the man in the blue box?" the Doctor leaned forward on his chair like a businessman interested in an offer.

Chris looked confused as he answered slowly and carefully. "The strange man in the blue box… the Doctor…? My dad told it to me."

"And where did he hear it from?" Amy wondered.

"His father," he answered firmly. "It's an old family story… there's an interesting story to how it came about actually…"

The Doctor's eyes glinted as he listened.

"… apparently, the story was first told by James Robert McCrimmon, a Jacobite piper in the Highlands, he fought in the battle of Culloden and survived but he seemed to have driven him slightly mad. He was confused one day and kept going on that he'd forgotten something… then he had dreams or visions, anyway, he claimed he remembered what had happened. He talked about small funny man in a blue box who was a genius… he'd run around time and space and fight monsters and …creatures… he said _he'd _travelled to the future! Then one day he had to go home and that was how he'd ended up back in Scotland. He told everyone his stories, especially his children and grandchildren. No one took it seriously though… but it was an interesting story, so his grandchildren ended up telling their children and it's just been passed down…"

"Jamie…" the Doctor whispered under his breathe. "McCrimmon… oh that all makes sense!"

"Didn't catch that, sorry, what was it?" Chris asked.

"Nothing…"

"Why are you asking about it anyway?"

The Doctor stared at the two pairs of brown eyes that were so familiar.

"Do you believe that he travelled through time?"

Chris hesitated and Angela laughed straight out loud.

"It's all nonsense of course! He went a bit insane but told a nice story, that's all!"

Chris stared at his wife strangely then answered quietly.

"I believed it as a kid… besides, who wouldn't want it to be true? But we all have to grow up sometime…"

Hazel stared at the Doctor with a massive grin all over her face, the secret inside her glowing as she knew the fairy tale was completely and utterly true.

"We'd better be going…" the Doctor looked at his watch (the clock that was supposed to be in the kitchen was propped up against a stack of books in Hazel's bedroom). "Thank you for the tea, and the… story."

They all headed to the front door and stood on the doorstep saying their goodbyes (and thanks on the McCrimmon's part). The Doctor ruffled Hazel's head one last time and nodded to Chris, but lowered his voice so Angela couldn't hear what he said.

"Look out your kitchen window…"

The Doctor beamed at them and then set off down the path after Amy and Rory.

"What was all that about?" Rory asked completely bewildered.

The Doctor laughed heartily. "C'mon, back to the TARDIS, I'll explain it there… once we've moved a few houses down."

"What are we moving a few houses down for?"

"For an old friend…"

* * *

As soon as the door closed Chris looked at Angela.

"Lovely people, they've done good work… bit odd that bloke with the bow-tie though…"

"What did he say his name was?" Chris asked.

"He didn't… he's just some sort of doctor… student probably."

Chris looked down at Hazel who was still grinning broadly. He took her hand and ran to the kitchen. Angela wandered through to the kitchen, bewildered as she watched Hazel grab a chair and drag it over beside the counter and jump on top of it. Chris steadied Hazel and reached over for the curtain.

"There's nothing out there, it's just the alleyway, that the reason why we put up the curtain!" Angela rolled her eyes and walked over to the table to put away the cups left out of the table.

Chris drew back the curtain and both of them looked out into alleyway next to their house. And there, standing like an entry to a temple was a blue box labelled, "Police Public Call Box". The three mysterious guests came into view. The red headed girl and the boy opened the door and walked inside. The third, the leader, the strange man with the blue box, the man from the fairy tale, the magical figure which James Robert McCrimmon had met all those long years ago and admired so greatly stood next to the magical box, and looked straight at the window where Chris and Hazel stood transfixed. He grinned at them and waved, then hopped into the box. The two watched stood still, curious to see exactly what would happen next. After a few minutes there was a whirring sound and the box began to fade.

Chris hugged Hazel, delighted that it was all true and Hazel fondled the pendant that the man of her ancestor's dreams had given her.

* * *

_I hope it was partly worth the wait. Okay, so now you know why Hazel and her father knew the story about the Doctor, it may not make much sense if you've not seen the classic series, or know about any companions from then, but basically James Robert "Jamie" McCrimmon was a companion of the second Doctor, and one of the best companions (in my opinion, but then again, I'm rather prejudice being Scottish and all that). And I'm sorry about all the tea-drinking going on, I only realised while writing this chapter that so far they've had about six cups of tea each... but I guess its a british thing... or just a lack of imagination on my part. So anyway, in the future there will be less tea-drinking and more action/interesting things going on._

_Thanks for reading, peace and run amigo!_


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